Snapshot
by tanwellman
Summary: A response to "Pack-Rat Challenge" on Sillybella's Challenge Forum. Edward has a Valentine's Day Surprise for Bella, involving a special piece of equipment from her human life. Post-BD.
1. Chapter 1

Holidays were always bittersweet for Bella and me. The sweet aspect was very obvious—the love that Bella and I share makes celebrating special occasions meaningful. However, her reluctance to receive gifts tended to be an obstacle for these events.

We had many high-tech digital cameras throughout our house. It was an indulgence, really, as none of us aged and we were careful with the amount of pictures we took. However, especially since Renesmee was born, we've been using the camera more often. Rosalie and Alice took many pictures of her for her baby book, but we tried not to get any of us mature vampires or Jacob in them, so that there would not be proof of our non-aging.

It was one of these picture taking episodes that triggered the memory of a different camera. It was barely a year ago, but it seemed like a lifetime. The memory was accompanied by sharp pain, drawing an anxious look from Jasper. I shook my head the tiniest amount, letting him know I was fine. This camera was a representation of the darkest season of my existence, the time without my Bella.

I knew that it would not feel the same way for her. Human memories fade, and I know those memories would not be ones that she would purposefully think of to retain in her immortal mind. I knew she may have a vague memory of the camera, but I was certain what it would represent. The fact that it was 35 mm and an inexpensive brand would remind her of her humble human life, of her loving parents.

Charlie was an unexpected blessing to our new lives. While he was still on a "need-to-know" basis with us, and he did not associate the term "vampire" with our family, the tenor of his thoughts let me know he had completely accepted the fact that we were not human. Since I had never been able to clearly see his thoughts, I could not be entirely sure, but I had seen glimpses of ghosts (which was not too far of a stretch, what with our pale, cold skin) and also aliens. However, his thoughts finally settled on something similar to a werewolf, assuming that we were somehow related to the shape-shifter that he saw in action. He imagined Bella turning into something beautiful, like a unicorn.

Renee, on the other hand, had been a challenge. We were hoping, in the future, that Bella would be able to have limited contact with her. We believed that it would've been too suspicious to sever all ties. Charlie was invaluable to this charade, reassuring Renee that Bella was fine and was taking to married live beautifully. Due to our limitless technology, we were able to Photoshop pictures weekly to send to Renee via email, chronicling our married life, using pictures of Bella before she was turned. However, Renee was not able to send any back due to her slow dial-up connection in Florida.

Recently, Jasper had an idea about conferencing with Renee via "webcam," using a black and white camera and adjusting the resolution to come in just a little fuzzy. Renee would attribute the difference in Bella's voice to her substandard Internet connection in Florida. It would not be a permanent fix, but I believe that it had enough merit to investigate further. Nevertheless, we had all agreed to delay telling Bella this idea until we were certain it would work. Alice was searching the future, and Jasper was trying to manipulate the software to take care of each concern Alice foresaw.

In the meantime, Bella was missing her mother terribly. I was hoping to have the conferencing abilities up by Valentine's Day, but it wasn't going as smoothly as I expected. There were a few issues on Renee's end that Alice suggested needed to be changed. There was no way to manipulate the concerns in Florida except in person. I had made up my mind to employ a general contractor to discretely make the changes necessary, but thinking of Bella's old 35 mm camera gave me an idea.

It would be a challenge to pull off, especially since Bella and I were unable to be separated, only sharing our attention with Renesmee. We were completely enjoying married life, basking in the glow if immortality. If I were to be missing for 24 hours, her suspicion would ruin any Valentine's Day surprise I would plan. I would need help—probably everyone in the family's help. Starting with Alice. Perhaps a girls' shopping trip would be in order to distract Bella.

"Sweet!" Alice thought. "It's going to work perfectly." I watched vague pictures flit through her mind of a grumpy-yet, not suspicious, Bella. The pictures were blurry because Renesmee was there. But it was enough of an encouragement to go on to the next part of my plan. I needed to get Bella's old camera from Charlie's.

Bella, Renesmee, Jacob, and I drove to Charlie's house. Usually, I did not appreciate Jacob's seemingly constant presence with my wife and daughter. However, I was grateful today for his distracting appearance. Hopefully, he would distract Bella enough for me to secure the camera from her old bedroom.

When we arrived at Charlie's, instead of parking in the center of the driveway as we usually did, I parked off to the side, under the tree in the front yard. Bella gave me a confused look but didn't question it. I had opened the sunroof at Renesmee and Jacob's request—something I prompted them to do before we left. Everything was in order so far for this plan.

We got out of the car, moving at human speed. Jacob unbuckled Renesmee from her car seat, a necessary prop when your father-in-law is the chief of police. There was no use explaining the absurdity of the "safety" device to Charlie. When Grandpa is on a "need-to-know" basis, the fact that his granddaughter is nearly indestructible and the three adults in the car would never have a wreck, and even if they did, they would grab Renesmee and wrap themselves around her well before the impact was a mute point. So when we traveled to see Grandpa, there was no "lap-babies" allowed. Part of the charade. We all knew it was important for Renesmee to start playing her part.

Charlie was watching for us out of the window. The tenor of his thoughts still betrayed his curiosity with Jacob. I really could not blame him. Jacob went from being a Cullen-hating, Bella-loving, teenage runaway to being a member of our family with a very usual obsession with our daughter. I knew he was dying to ask me about it, to ask why I allowed it. I did not know how I would answer, because I barely understood myself why I allowed him to constantly hold my daughter.

This thought made me decide that I needed to hold Renesmee. I went to the backdoor of the Volvo as Jacob finished removing her from her straps and held out my hands. He noticed me over his shoulder, and I heard him mentally sigh. "_Play nice, Jacob_," he told himself. He pasted on a smile and handed her to me. "Here ya go, Daddy," he said out loud, playfully, and just a little sarcastically. Bella sighed as us both and held out her arms. "I NEED her," she said, and I obliged by handing our daughter to her. Renesmee giggled from being passed around by her three favorite adults, and buried her head in Bella's hair. Jacob and I grinned at each other, a little sheepishness in each of our expressions.

"Nessie!" Charlie called from the doorway. She peeked out between Bella's hair, and I saw Charlie swallow noisily. He may not have vampire-sharp vision, but even a human could tell that Renesmee was growing faster than a normal baby. His worried thoughts were swirling around me as we stepped into the house.

We all settled into the small living room making small talk. Charlie was asking about the rest of the family, and Jacob stretched out on the floor, and I knew he would be asleep in no time. "I'll be right back," I said under my breath to Bella, and Jacob opened one eye to look at me. To Charlie I said, "Will you excuse me? I need to use your restroom, please." Charlie's thoughts were surprised at this ordinary request, although he did not specifically know that vampires had no use for a toilet.

I walked up the stairs and opened the bathroom door. I closed it noisily so that Charlie would think I went in. However, at the same time, I silently opened the door to Bella's old room and slipped in.

The bedroom had not changed since the last night she stayed here, the night before our wedding. I remembered with clarity my brothers dragging me out for a last-minute hunting trip and unsolicited honeymoon advice. A quiet chuckle escaped my lips, and I heard Bella's sudden thoughts. "What are you doing?" she asked me, her thought words slightly strained at the effort to unshield her mind.

"It's okay, love," I murmured. "Just taking a trip down memory lane. I'll be down in a moment." I waited for Jacob to sleepily ask Bella a question that I prompted him to, effectively distracting her. I slipped over to her desk, found the camera in question, silently opened her bedroom window, and dropped the camera out of the window, though the open sunroof in the Volvo, and into Renesmee's open diaper bag, where Alice had arranged Renesmee's clothes to cushion the fall.

I slipped back out into the hallway and noisily re-opened and shut the bathroom door, and came down the stairs. Charlie's thoughts were focused on Renesmee, Jacob was slowly drifting back into oblivion, Bella's shield was tightly back in place, and Renesmee was wishing she could let Charlie know she could talk. She wanted to have the same relationship with him that she had with the rest of her family. I caught her eye and shook my head a millimeter to the left, but I tempered the rebuke with a smile, as I knew she didn't really mean to expose herself to Charlie. I felt the need to remind her though, just in case.

Bella caught my eye, and I was preparing myself for her mental questions, when Charlie turned to us and asked if we had heard from Renee recently. Bella recounted the last email we had received, and Charlie's thoughts were concerned—I assumed, both for Renee and also for our secret.

A couple of hours later, his thoughts and Renesmee's thoughts both started to slow, so I knew it was time to return home. I kicked Jacob with the toe of my shoe (gently, since Charlie was watching) and rose to gather everyone up. I heard Bella hold her breath to prepare to hug Charlie good-bye, and I stayed with arms reach of Bella, just in case. It really was easy to forget she was a newborn.

I caught Jacob's eye as we returned to the car, and I saw him slip into the car first and zip up Renesmee's diaper bag before Bella reached the car to hand him the baby to put in her car seat. Bella heard the zipper and looked at the diaper bag, but then shook her head and turned back to wave at Charlie, more concerned with keeping up her human façade than figuring out her strange werewolf friend's bizarre behavior. We climbed in our car and zoomed for home, the first phase of my plan complete, with Bella's camera safely hidden behind me.


	2. Chapter 2

I sighed and tried to relax as I allowed myself to sink into the plush first-class seat that I occupied. I did not need to rest, at least not physically. However, the past few hours had been an emotional strain on me. I pretended to sleep as I recalled the scene at our home from earlier this morning.

I remembered watching Bella and Nessie drive away with the other women in my family, headed to Portland for a twenty-four hour shopping trip. I stood on the porch and waved until my sharp eyesight could no longer see the back of the Volvo that they required with five passengers. I felt the acute pain in my chest as I faced an entire day without my mate. Then, slowly my thoughts were turned to the mind directly behind me, at another heart…one that was actually beating, but whose rhythm was abnormal, skipping beats, as its owner yearned for an occupant of that car, as well. I turned, intending on glowering at Jacob, but when I saw his broken expression, I sighed instead and clapped him on the shoulder.

I left minutes later, and was preparing for take-off the same time the girls would be arriving in Portland. I checked my phone right before the flight attendants requested electronics to be shut off, and was relieved that there were no texts from Alice. That meant that there were no variations to the future that would interrupt my plan.

My luggage was stowed; I traveled light for this trip. All I had was a change of clothes, necessary traveling documents, a safe amount of cash—not enough to be suspicious if I were to be stopped in the security screening process-- and a camera case with an outdated camera and four rolls of film.

I spent the duration of the flight thinking of my Bella and wondering what she was doing. I knew that the idea of shopping was not any more appealing to her now than it was as a human, but being immortal changed her perspective of things. She did not tire now, and time was something of which we had plenty, so it was easier for her to be patient during these excursions. I imagined she missed me; I wondered if it was half as much as I missed her.

As the pilot was asking us to prepare for landing, my hand was itching to turn on my phone, to see if there were any messages from her. At my first possible opportunity, I switched it on. One text was there, this one from Alice:

_We arrived safely. So will you. Everything is still the same on your end._ The cryptic message was all I needed to energize me for my plan. I was so excited to give my bride this gift; a gift that I knew, deep down, that she would treasure more than any bauble or car I could buy her. My Bella was becoming easier to understand. The gifts that she accepted with grace came from the heart, not the store.

Soon the plane landed, and although I was slightly annoyed at the pilot's sloppy landing sequence, I made myself smile and appear relieved to blend in with the other passengers as I disembarked. Since I traveled only with a carry-on, I was able to bypass the congested luggage claim area and head straight to the rental car counter. I selected my car carefully, fully for function on this trip, not style. I asked them to pull the car up to the adjacent, covered loading area and waited just inside the doors, watching passengers both coming and going, the former wearing sad or weary looks on their faces and the ladder seemingly relieved and excited to be going home.

I had neither expression on my face as I approached the rental car being parked for me. I slipped the tip into the driver's hand as he exited the car and I slipped behind the wheel. My small bag sat in the passenger seat beside me, and the sight of it was a visible reminder of what I was here to accomplish. I pulled away from the airport, driving from perfect recall toward the place I had visited once before, on a vacation with my Bella.

I parked down the street, searching the thoughts around me as was my routine, looking for anything dangerous or suspicious. The mundane thoughts were exactly what I expected to hear. No one took notice of my arrival and I sensed no danger in the area. One final time, I looked at my phone, checking for a message from Alice announcing a change in the future. I noticed the alert confirming that I did, in fact, have a message:

_Stop worrying and checking for messages from me!!! I will CALL you if something changes. Switch your phone from "silent" to "vibrate," just in case._

I grinned at my sister's jab and did as she instructed. Immediately, I got another text:

_Thank you!_

I shook my head, still smiling. Then, I grabbed my bag, secured my phone in the side pocket, and stepped out of the car into the thick Jacksonville heat.

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I could not have timed my trip better. The Atlantic coast was experiencing a heat wave for February. It was approaching eighty-five degrees. This had residents breaking out their shorts and tank-tops the past few days. However, thankfully Florida was also well known for its sporadic rainstorms and fickle weather. This provided me intermittent cloud cover, and thanks to my omniscient sister, I knew exactly when I would be able to be out in the Jacksonville heat, and when I would have to stay indoors. I had exactly seventeen minutes of cloud cover before the sun would escape the clouds. I would need only a fraction of that time to secure what I came for.

I sauntered up to the yellow house down the street, searching for a familiar voice that would warn of being discovered. There were no voices coming from the house—Renee and Phil were out. I streaked at vampire speed to the porch, found the key hidden there, and was inside the house before any of the neighbors could notice me, if they were looking. Once inside, I swept the interior with my eyes, searching for any danger as a reflex. Finding none, I reached inside the bag and pulled out the camera, loaded with a new roll of film.

As I lifted the camera to my eyes, I was reminded of doing the same thing, a lifetime ago, in a different living room. I remember looking through the lens, staring at Bella and Charlie standing there stiffly, and taking a picture of the most beautiful creature I had ever encountered. Both in the memory and now, my chest ached, but for different reasons. Then,for fearing that my presence was a danger to her. Now, for knowing that leaving her was the biggest danger of all.

I forced myself into the present, and started snapping. I took pictures of the living room and kitchen. I took pictures of the mantle that held snapshots of Bella and her mother, through the years. I took a picture of Renee and Phil's wedding portrait that was hanging on the wall. I captured the sight of the spare bedroom, where Bella stayed during our one visit. It was a perfect representation of Renee—disorganized and cluttered with the cast-off reminders of her latest fads. A stack of books were piled in the corner, a scrapbooking table with the appropriate tools stood beside bed, which was holding an exercise ball and miscellaneous exercise bands.

I skipped Renee and Phil's room and bathroom, trying to afford them some amount of privacy, slipping instead into the back yard. I took pictures of the house from all angles, and well as the landscape that Bella would love. Feeling confident that I captured everything that she would want to remember, I returned to my car, still monitoring the thoughts of the neighborhood.

I was listening for the phone alert just moments before it came. Alice had texted, _Phil is finishing up his time at the batting cages, and Renee is grading papers. _I headed for the local elementary school where Renee had informed Bella she had secured a 6 week substitution position, filling in for the young kindergarten teacher who was home on maternity leave. This part would be a bit trickier, as a man with a camera would surely attract notice loitering around an elementary school.

I pulled into the elementary school parking lot just as the sun was coming out. I searched the shadows with my eyes, looking for a safe path in the sunlight. At the same time, I searched the thoughts with my mind. Renee's familiar innocent voice was easy to spot.

_Oh, I am so proud of Brice. His handwriting has improved so much since we switched the pencil from his right hand to his left hand. Who would've thought he'd be a lefty? I need to talk to his parents about switching other things at home. Where are those Post-it's…._I saw her rummaging through a pile on a messy desk. Pictures, papers, and books were scattered, covering every surface of the desk.

As I located the direction of her voice, I found the window that I was certain belonged to her room. I would be able to walk in shadows to the playground, and if I sat on the bench under the tree, I would have an angle to photograph the classroom and Renee without her seeing me or the glare ruining the picture.

I paused for a moment after I decided that plan of action, giving it time to seep into Alice's visions of the future. If there was a problem with that plan, she would call me immediately. When a few seconds passed with no alert from my phone, I picked up my camera and stepped out of the car, into the shade of the building. Continuing in the shade, I sauntered into the playground, sitting down on the bench. As soon as I did, I could catch Renee's scent on the breeze. She had the windows open to her classroom, and her scent caught me by surprise. I had forgotten how much like Bella she smelled. It was not nearly the same powerful scent that I endured and adored for many months, but it was similar enough to bring Bella's human scent into the forefront of my memory. My throat burned, and at the same time, my still heart lurched. Oh, how I loved that girl.

I quickly grabbed my camera, eager to complete this portion of my plan, all the sooner to return to Bella. Pretending to take a picture of a squirrel outside of the window, I snapped a couple of pictures of the classroom, capturing Renee flitting around the room, straightening the children's desks and erasing the blackboard. Renee's thoughts revealed that she had not noticed me. Instead, she was thinking about her dinner plans with Phil. He was going to take her out to dinner, but Renee did not know where exactly they were going.

I headed back to the car, and when I had shut the door, my phone alerted me to another message from Alice. I glanced at the phone, and sure enough, there was the name of the restaurant that Phil had just decided to take Renee. I entered the unfamiliar address into the GPS, and I headed into the Jacksonville sun, protected by the dark-tinted windows.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

I arrived at the quaint restaurant before both Phil and Renee and found a strategic parking lot. The exhilaration that I felt for this project was starting to fade, being replaced with eagerness to get back to my girls. Speaking of my girls, I decided to spend the time waiting with a pleasant diversion.

I picked up my cell phone and dialed Bella's number, holding my breath in anticipation of hearing her voice. However, it was an even sweater voice that answered. "Daddy!" Immediately, my silent heart melted.

"Hello, sweetheart. How are you?" I asked her, loving the sound of her voice. However, I rarely heard it, due to our other senses. She preferred to show me her thoughts, and we never had to announce our arrivals. Her voice had a familiarity to it, as she spoke with the same cadences as Bella, but the high tinkle of a vampire.

"Good, Daddy. Aunt Alice is so happy. I wish Uncle Jasper were here to feel how happy she is."

"Don't worry, Renesmee, I am sure Alice will still be just as happy when she gets home." Unfortunately, I had far too many memories of Jasper cashing in on the 'benefits' of Alice's shopping high.

"That's good. Mommy and Grandma are having more fun looking at pillows and lamps than clothes." She giggled as though she were telling me a secret.

"Well, that's good, pumpkin. It sounds like everything is going well there." I heard the faint sounds of Renee's thoughts in the distance, and I knew she would be pulling in soon. "It was good talking to you, baby. May I speak to Mommy now?"

"Here she is. I love you, Daddy." Does life get any better than this? "I love you, too."

"I hear our daughter is telling on me," my wife murmured in the phone. I could almost feel the longing coming from her, and it matched my own.

"Yes, and it's making me miss you even more than I thought possible. When are you coming home?" While I was sincere in my longing to see her, I also wanted to make sure she would not return before me.

"I think we are going to stay the night, finish shopping in the morning, and be home in the early afternoon." I would be returning home before morning, so I would have plenty of time to finish my surprise for Bella.

"That's fine, Love. Enjoy your time with your family." It pleased me to be able to provide her with the sisters she never had, and a mother and daughter to complete the picture.

I could hear her smile when she responded. "Thank you. I am enjoying it. Esme and I finding our styles to be very similar. Having Renesmee is making me understand her better. We can relate to each other. I wish Renee could meet Nessie…" her voice trailed off to a wistful end.

"I'm sorry, love." There were no words for her pain. I only hoped that my gift would help, not hurt, the situation.

Her voice brightened, although I could tell it was forced. "It's fine. I am focused on my blessings, and they are many."

"I love you, Isabella."

"I love you, too." She hung up right before I heard Renee's car round the curve. I retrieved the camera from the bag on the passenger seat and rolled down my window just enough to get the camera shot. As Phil rounded the car to open Renee's car door, I snapped a picture. I got another one of them standing together, kissing lightly, before they entered the restaurant. I also listened to their happy thoughts, thankful for my perfect recall. Those thoughts were just as much a part of my surprise as the images I was capturing.

I left the restaurant, returning to Renee and Phil's house. The darkening of twilight was a blessing as I quickly climbed the utility pole outside of their home and manipulated their telephone wires. I was up the pole and down before any human could have detected me, although that was impossible anyway since I had scanned the thoughts in the neighborhood before I left the car. A quick trip inside to fix the telephone connections there completed that phase of the plan, laying the groundwork for future teleconferencing between Renee and Bella.

I drove quickly back to the airport, my plan almost half complete. I waited impatiently to go through security, and then I settled into the waiting area of my gate. I only had a half of an hour to wait, but the anxiousness that was growing inside of me was making the time seem eternal. I knew now how my sibling felt being away from their mates all of these years. It even felt different now than it did when Bella was human. As hard as it was to be away from her then, now that we were married and more a part of each other, it was an agony I could have never imagined to be apart. The only thing squelching the depression was the purpose of this trip.

Eventually, First Class passengers were called, and I boarded the plane. I was careful to ignore the flirtatious thoughts, purposefully handing the flight attendant my boarding pass with my left hand. Sometimes it dampened the intensity of the thoughts, and luckily that was the case this time.

I spent the flight consecutively ignoring the droll thoughts of the passengers, absentmindedly monitoring the pilots, and daydreaming about my wife. While humans believe that absence makes the heart grow fonder, the immortal perspective makes that sentiment impossible. I could not be fonder of Bella no matter how long we were apart, and conversely our time apart recalled the crystal clear memories of the time when we were exiled from each other, due to the destructive nature of my will. A year later, and the wounds that I inflicted on myself were just beginning to heal. Luckily, those memories were but shadows to Bella due to her transformation. It did seem fitting that I should remember every detail of that time; a fair sentence for my mistake.

However, I found myself unable to wallow in the self-loathing that had accompanied me the past century. I reflected on this as well, and realized that the ease with which Bella had transitioned into immortal life, as well as the pure joy that our daughter brought to us, made it almost impossible to dwell on the negative. Everything had turned out as best as possible, better than I deserved. I was only glad fate had been kind to my Bella, and I was reaping the benefit of her reward. I was also doing what was in my power to ease the small burdens that were inevitable with our life, such as Bella's issue of missing her mother.

The plane landed in the middle of the night, and I raced home to complete my gift for Bella. As I approached the house, I caught the disgruntled thoughts of my brothers and father as they were passing time without their mates. I smiled internally, finally being able to relate to their annoyance. I walked in and Emmett and Jasper immediately ended their game. "How did everything go?" Jasper asked me.

"I exchanged the cables you asked me to and installed the filter inside the house," I told him, referring to the alterations to Renee's phone system. "I also was able to secure plenty of photographs that I think Bella will enjoy."

"Excellent. I will start working on the teleconferencing abilities," Jasper told me. He headed to our hidden computer room where his high tech offerings were located, and Emmett offered to Jasper. When Esme had showed an interest in wildlife photography a couple of years ago, Carlisle had installed a dark room in the basement. I heard Emmett following Jasper, so I headed to develop the film.

While the film was processing, I retrieved from our old room the scrapbook that Bella had brought from Charlie's house when we were first married. The first few pages were full of pictures of our high school friends, as well as pictures of Charlie and me, but there were still many pages left to fill. I started on the first blank page, captioning the photographs that I knew were processing in the basement. My accurate memory gave me the information on the pictures, as well as the exact thoughts Renee and Phil were thinking as the photographs were taken. I transcribed these thoughts, word for word, onto the pages, leaving spaces to affix the pictures when they were ready.

As I finished chronicling my trip, I had another thought. I imagined Bella's memories of her mother were starting to fade, as was the normal custom of our kind. I knew this would make her sad, so I turned the page and started writing in the style of a journal. I searched my mind and recounted every memory Bella had described to me about her mother and life as a child, from the moment that we first met. Since I had taken away all of Bella's natural memories, I would do the least I could by giving her my memories, a poor substitute to be sure.

I turned the page and continued on, describing the first time she had met my family, as well as their thoughts about the first time they had met her. I searched the house, and I included pictures of my siblings at prom, as well as one family portrait we had taken with Bella at the wedding. We were careful not to have too many pictures of ourselves as proof to our non-aging, going so far as to be absent any time pictures were taken for the yearbook. However, we did capture images of important moments, and we guarded these images fiercely.

Feeling like I had written as much as was needed, yet still feeling insignificant, I closed the book and went to retrieve the pictures. After affixing them to the scrapbook, I texted Alice, wondering when she would be home.

_We are just heading out to the stores that open early. We should be home in a few hours. Tell Jasper that he will have to manipulate Bella's voice even more than her picture for Renee not to be suspicious._

I found Jasper, relayed the message, and followed Carlisle's scent to his study. He was sitting reading, and I could not even hear him turn a page from downstairs. I stood outside of his door, and he told me to enter before I paused there for even half a second.

_I heard you tell your brothers that your trip was successful._

"Yes, it was. I wanted to show you the finished result." I handed him the scrapbook.

He glanced quickly over the first few pages that showed our high school friends, and then studied the pictures of Renee and Phil. "They look very happy," he said conversationally.

"Yes, they are."

_It was very thoughtful of you to include their thoughts. Were these all of their thoughts? They are very pure and content._

"Those are almost all of their thoughts," I said with a smirk. "They are still technically newlyweds, after all."

Carlisle smiled, and then turned the page. He lingered over pictures of our family and my description of their memories of Bella. _Bella is very lucky to have this. None of the rest of us has very many memories of our human lives, and perhaps this will help Bella hold and retrieve some of her own. I am glad…her choice to become one of us was as unselfish for her as it was difficult for you._

I nodded my agreement. "I'll let you continue your reading and go finish helping Jasper set up the teleconferencing software. Thanks for your insight." I left Carlisle's study, pausing only to check the text message that arrived as I was leaving.

_We're on our way home._


End file.
